The present invention relates to a method of storing a biometrics template on a self-service terminal (SST) network, and to a method of verifying a claimed biometrics template. The invention further relates to a self-service terminal for use in such a network, and to a network itself. Certain aspects of the invention relate to methods of storing biometrics templates on other forms of network.
Self-service terminals (SSTs), such as automated teller machines (ATMs) are frequently used for high-value transactions, such as financial transactions. In order to reduce the risk of unauthorized third parties from fraudulently accessing a user's bank account or other financial property, a number of systems of user identification and verification are known. Potentially one of the most secure identification systems is the use of biometrics templates for identification. These rely on some inherent characteristic of the user being taken as the basis for identification; for example, a fingerprint, an iris or retina scan, a voiceprint, and the like.
Biometrics have the advantage that different individuals have different biometrics characteristics, and so only authorized users are able to present the correct characteristic to the SST for identification and access to the user's personal details, bank account, and the like. However, a potential difficulty of biometrics systems lies in the need to compare the user's current biometrics data with a previously-acquired record data for identification and verification. The current data may be compared with every record data stored to identify the user; however, this rapidly becomes computationally prohibitive as the number of users grows. Further, since record data will typically be stored on a central server, either the current data or the record data will have to be transferred between the SST in use and the central server for comparison, thereby providing an opportunity for unauthorized individuals to intercept the data transfer and duplicate the biometrics data. This client-server arrangement may also suffer from ‘bottlenecks’ in the event of heavy data traffic, as well as being liable to failure in the event of the server being offline for some reason. In addition, even if the relevant data is stored in encrypted form, the key to the encryption will also be stored in some location, such that interception of this key or access to the key store by unauthorized individuals may compromise the security of the network.
An alternative to this technique is for the user to carry a separate identification token carrying the record biometrics data for comparison. When the user presents the current data to the SST, the record data may be read from the token and compared. This avoids the need for biometrics data to be transferred over a network; however, storage of the complete biometrics data on a separate token raises security issues, should a third party obtain the token.